Romney’s Tax Returns

MSNBC, Current Television all talk endlessly about Mitt Romney and his releasing only 1 full year and 1 year of projected taxes. The major claim is that every other Presidential candidate has released their returns since 1968 so Romney should also. Seems reasonable. These liberal bent stations tell us that not releasing the information is hurting Romney.

Does the American public care? Apparently, the public is evenly divided with 51% saying it is not something that they need to see. When you divide up the public, liberals are most interested and conservatives are the least concerned. Interestingly, people with lower salaries and younger votes both support the release of the Romney taxes.

Columnist Colby King raised this point today in his editorial. It’s not enough for Romney to say he’s paid all taxes that are “legally required.” A person who wants to be president should also be able to say, and to demonstrate, that no ethical lines have been crossed.

The best part of his piece is the succinct explaination for what could be hidden in his tax returns.

Was Romney’s income that was placed in a Swiss bank account reported on his earlier tax returns?

How did Romney’s IRA grow so large (to $100 million) when he could only put in $30,000 over any single year?

Did Romney report and pay gift tax on the funding of these trusts,” or might he have claimed “unreasonable valuations” that “would have exposed him to serious penalties if all the facts were known?”

All of these things raise questions about ethics and legal actions. All US citizens should be following the law when filing taxes; no special deals for the rich. This is especially true for a man who is running to be the person in charge of upholding all US and most international laws as the US President.